FAQS

Account

What is the refund and cancellation policy?

Customers can cancel their subscription at anytime. To cancel, you can log in to your Account Management profile and click on Cancel Your Subscription. If you aren’t able to cancel successfully, we recommend you email us at info@trade-ideas.com. We only refund within 3 market days from purchase date. Special promotions are a limited time offer and are not refund eligible.

How do I log in?

When you first create an account, you are automatically logged in to our web-based product. By default, your username and password are automatically stored on your computer. You do not have to log in again unless you move to a different computer, or you explicitly log off. If you need to log in, just go to our log in page.

How do I sign up, pay, cancel, etc.?

If you were previously a subscriber, use the link above to reactivate your subscription.

If you accidentally cancel, wait until your current subscription ends, then use the link above to activate your account. If you don’t want to wait, then use the link above that one to create a new account and activate that account.

If PayPal cancels your account then you need to start by going to PayPal to fix the problem. Start at https://www.paypal.com. If you select “My Account” then “Profile” you will see an option to update your credit card information. After you fix the problem you can use the link above to reactivate your account.

If you are using PayPal, and you need to switch to a different credit card, follow the steps below in order. If you do not follow these instructions, PayPal may cancel your account. In that case, see the directions above to reactivate your account.

Find the subscription, and click on that link. (If you click on your last payment, there will be a link at the top that goes to the original subscription.)

There you will see instructions for switching to the new credit card.

If you want, you can delete the old payment instructions. But don’t do that until after you have finished the steps above. That option is available under profile.

Am I a professional trader?

Probably not.

Almost all of our users are non-professional traders.

If you were a professional, you would probably know it.

This is how the NYSE defines a non-professional trader: any natural person whom Vendor has determined to qualify as a “Nonprofessional Subscriber” and who is not: (a) registered or qualified with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, any state securities agency, any securities exchange or association, or any commodities or futures contract market or association. (b) engaged as an “investment advisor” as that term is defined in Section 201(11) of the Investment Advisor’s Act of 1940 (whether or not registered or qualified under that Act), nor (c) employed by a bank or other organization exempt from registration under Federal and/or state securities laws to perform functions that would require him or her to be so registered or qualified if he or she were to perform such functions for an organization not so exempt.

Professional and non-professional traders receive the same software and data from Trade-Ideas.

Professional traders have to pay more, but that money goes entirely to the exchanges.

Professional traders have to fill out more paperwork.

Trade-Ideas “Pro” is available to all traders, both professionals and non-professionals.

AI (Artificial Intelligence)

What is the AI?

AI stands for Artificial Intelligence. At Trade Ideas we’ve spent 13 years building the components leading up to our breakthrough AI innovation permits active investors to confidently make market decisions.Early adopters call the technology a Holy Grail. So, we’ve named her Holly. Every day Holly, starts fresh with no positions and finishes the day flat – out of everything. Investors watch, follow, and learn from Holly how to identify opportunities and how to manage risk: winners, losers, profits, and losses when they inevitably happen.The AI consists of proprietary algorithms utilizing Trade Ideas’ unique derived data sets. Every evening and overnight Trade Ideas conducts what we call the ‘Quantitative Combine’ that performs over a millions simulated trades. These simulations test values of key indicators (e.g., relative volume, Change from Previous Close) as well as trading plan variables (e.g., Hold time, time of day, stop loss, etc.) to identify trading probabilities. Every morning before the open, Holly produces 5-8 of the strategies graded against a proprietary criteria that contain the greatest, statistically tested probability of identifying successful opportunities in the market and displays them in the AI Strategies Window.

Why name her Holly?

Early adopters call the technology a Holy Grail. We’ve given the technology the name, Holly. Every investor has yearned and searched for an elusive holy grail at some point. This is rooted in a strong, universal desire to identify and consistently apply an advantage – to at least level the playing field in a market full of participants with all kinds of information.

Can Holly tell me what to buy or sell?

Yes. Holly’s trades are signaled in realtime from her optimized algorithms designed for current market conditions, and she includes price targets and suggested holdtimes.

How much is the AI?

Holly, the Trade Ideas AI, is permissioned with our premium OddsMaker backtesting module. Both the AI and the OddsMaker require a Premium Trade Ideas subscription. Prior to June 2016, Trade Ideas sold the access to AI and OddsMaker as a one-time, lifetime software license purchase. If you purchased a lifetime OddsMaker or AI/OddsMaker license prior to the change, you only need a Standard TI subscription to have total access to the AI and the OddsMaker.

How does the AI select strategies everyday?

There is rigorous competition between a set of 35 base strategies. We call this the ‘Quantitative Combine’ — a term from american football where top prospects compete for starting roster positions. Holly runs this competition every night, crunching over a million trades to determine the best, statistically tested AI strategies.

What are in the AI's Strategies?

Holly, the AI, is working from a list of approximately 35 to 42 base strategies that are optimized according to market conditions. For guidance as to the defining descriptions of the strategies, please visit the Artificial Intelligence Strategy Descriptions page.

Alerts

I’m getting too much information at once!

It is easy to become overwhelmed by all of the information. You have several options to make the data more manageable. At the top of the alert window there is a configure link. This link takes you to the configuration window, which allows you to tailor the alerts to your specific trading style. If you are not sure how to customize your view or set alert parameters, here are some suggestions.

Create a symbol list and set the alerts to watch only the stocks that you want to follow. By default our alerts are watching the entire market. Creating your own list will limit the number of stocks the alerts are tracking and slow down the amount of information.

Set additional filters. Just below the alert list you will find optional filters. These filters limit the symbols you see. For example, you can say that you don’t want to see stocks below 10 dollars or above 60 dollars through the Min and Max price filter. Additionally you can say you only want to look at stocks that trade at a certain amount of volume such as 500,000 shares per day, or only stock trading on higher volume than they normally trade.

Open multiple alert windows and have one window look at bullish patterns while another looks at bearish patterns. That splits the data into two parts and makes it easier to watch.

Change the settings on the preconfigured alerts. We provide example alert windows. These can be used as is or they can be customized. Start with the samples; change them to make them more suitable to what you are looking for and, after clicking on the Accept Changes button at the bottom of the page, save the new window in your Favorites or as a shortcut.

How do I open multiple alert windows?

In the web-based version of the product, there are several ways to open multiple alert windows.

From the getting started page, click on any of the start links to open different alert windows preconfigured for different trading styles.

Or use one of the configure links on that page to create a custom alert window.

To open an exact copy of an existing alert window, press the Ctrl+N keys on your keyboard. An exact duplicate will be created and you can modify it to suit any purpose by selecting the Configure link.

Select Duplicate Window from the right-click menu on any alert window.

Select Load Alert Window… from the File menu of status window.

How do I save my alert window settings so that I don’t have to keep resetting them?

In every alert window in the web-based product there is a Save option. This option automatically loads the alert configuration into the Favorites menu on your browser. This allows you to access that particular alert configuration from any browser window. Alternatively you can left click with your mouse on the URL icon in the address bar and drag it out of the browser onto your desktop. This will create a shortcut on your desktop that will allow you to open an alert window like you would any other application.

How do I use these alerts to manage my risk?

Our alerts help you manage risk by giving you the play by play of statistically significant events based on stock volatility and volume for stocks in your portfolio or sector of interest.

Create a personal symbol list with stocks that are in your portfolio. From the home page, click on Advanced Features, then click on the Edit symbol lists option. Follow the instructions on that page to create a list with the symbols in your portfolio. Then go to one or more of your alert windows, and click the Configure link. On the configuration window, select the symbol list you just created. You can now see if stocks in your portfolio are doing anything interesting.

You can take an additional step if you have short positions in your portfolio and create another list that has just your short positions. Now let’s say you want to monitor your short positions to control risk. Create two separate lists, one for your long positions, and one for your short positions. Go to the start page. Click on the Short Positions Risk Manager link. Select the Configure link on the alerts page. On the configuration page, under Choose Symbol List, select your list of short positions. Click on the Accept Changes button at the very bottom of the configuration window and you will see this new risk management alert window. You will instantly know if one of your short positions is moving against you. You can do the same thing for your long positions with the Long Positions Risk Manager link.

You can apply this technique to any other kind of trading or risk management strategy. Just save the alerts and you will be able to quickly access them anytime.

How can I use your alerts to make better trades?

Although we do not advocate any particular trading strategy, our alerts are used by traders around the globe to improve their performance. The key is automation of the trade identification process. Our alerts perform the mundane tasks of pattern recognition and filtering the noise in order to display significant information to the end user. This makes our users efficient predators. They are able to be in many more potentially profitable trades because they are not spending their time looking for opportunities. Instead they are focusing on rapid situation analysis and risk management. Back in the old days of trading it was possible to get by trading just a few stocks. Today the market is much more competitive and our alerts give traders the ultimate advantage of real time information.

Why don’t you have limit alerts?

Some software packages provide alerts based on a specific price. For example, “Alert me when DELL crosses below $25.00.” These are called limit alerts.

Limit alerts already exist in so many places that we did not see the need to duplicate them. Most direct access platforms have this integrated into their execution or portfolio management windows. Most brokers will allow you to give them a limit order. In these cases, it is safer to use the broker or the direct access software because they can automatically execute your trade as a conditional order.

Most data providers, like eSignal, have limit alerts built into their software. Several other services, like Yahoo!, offer limit alerts for free or for very little charge. Since traders already have access to these services, there is no need for us to duplicate that effort.

The disadvantage of limit alerts is that they require the user to enter a value for each stock, and to periodically update that value. This is appropriate in some occasions, like setting a stop loss. However, for large symbol lists, this is not the best use of the trader’s time, and it is potentially error prone. Our alerts server automatically finds and maintains several interesting technical levels for each stock. Our users only have to give a general description of which levels they want to see.

Some software allows the user to use relative numbers like “up 10%” or “down $0.10″. On the surface, this appears to be an improvement, but in practice this has even more problems. Traders often pick these numbers arbitrarily, and often use the same number for all stocks. The alerts server uses historical data, such as volatility, specific to each stock. These algorithms always provide an objective view of stock behavior. This ensures that the server only reports stocks which are doing interesting things, rather than just naming the same high-volatility stocks every day.

I just saw two conflicting alerts at the same time!

The alerts server looks for patterns on multiple time frames. The most common reason for a conflict is that the stock has a short-term pattern pointing in one direction and a long term pattern pointing in another direction.

Some patterns can mean different things at different times. We try to use the most common names and descriptions of these patterns. But we do not provide buy or sell recommendations. We point out interesting events, and you must decide on the appropriate interpretation.

Some patterns naturally conflict. Some patterns are looking for continuous motion in one direction while others look for sudden reversals. Both patterns start the same way. When each pattern is looking for something in particular, they can overlap. Is the glass half empty or half full?

Often there is a combination of these. For example, lets consider the fast version of the channel breakout alert, and the double top alert. The channel breakout suggests that the price is moving higher, breaking through a resistance line. The double top alert suggests that the price was unable to penetrate resistance, and it confirmed the resistance line. On the surface these appear to conflict, however they can happen very close together. How?

These work in different time frames. The fast version of the channel breakout requires less confirmation than most of our alerts. The double top is one of our longest-term alerts. To confirm a long term alert, you need more volume and you allow more fluctuation in the price. What appeared as an important move in the short term was just noise in the long term.

What do these patterns mean? At their heart, these both say that the price is near a resistance line.

So why do they say more? These two alerts are each optimized to see something different. The goal of the breakout alert is to predict a breakout as soon as possible. This naturally involves a tradeoff. By making the prediction sooner, the alert generates more false positives. The goal of the double top is to find the opposite alert. If a case is on the edge, both alerts might appear.

Can I create custom alerts?

Yes and no.

Our goal is to provide the most flexibility without requiring the user to perform any programming. While we can’t satisfy all requests, we can automate many of the mundane tasks that most traders perform.

Instead of programming, the user selects bits and pieces of an alert window.

For example, one user asked if we had a strong volume gainers window. This and the strong volume losers window come from a competing product. We do not have “Strong Volume Gainers” listed anywhere on our site, but we were able to create that in a matter of seconds.

For an exact copy of this, select the Strong Volume alert and set the number of days to 4. Then set the min up from the close filter to $0.01.

Because our alerts are customizable in this way, you can create this exact setup, or you can make your own modifications. For example, set the minimum volume to 6 to see only stronger alerts. Or change the definition of “gainers” to have a larger minimum, to work from the open, etc. Or mix and match these pieces with other pieces. The possibilities are endless.

Look at the configuration window for the complete list of choices. If you don’t understand one of the choices, be sure to click on the nearest question mark or icon for context sensitive help.

We do not do custom programming. However, most of our features have been inspired by feedback from our users. If you have some ideas which we can add to our product, we’re happy to take a look.

Are the conditions combined with an “and” or an “or”?

Different parts of the alert window are combined in different ways.

Each alert type is combined with an or. If you select multiple alert types, you will see stocks matching the criteria of any one or moreof the alert types. For example, if you check both the running up (confirmed) and the running down (confirmed) alert you will see all stocks which are running up or down.

The alert specific filters are each associated with only one alert type. For example you can request to see stocks only which (((are making new highs) and (these are 5 day highs))or((are making new lows)and(these are 10 day lows))).

The window specific filters are typically combined with an and. For example if you set the minimum price to $5, and the maximum price to $90, you will only see stocks trading between those two prices. Read the detailed help for each filter for some exceptions and other details.

The alert types combine with the window specific filters using an and. A stock must satisfy at least one of the alert conditions and all of the window specific filter conditions for you to see it.

Some conditions are available as both alerts and filters. This gives you more options when you configure a window. For example you can use the high relative volume alert and the running up alert to see stocks meeting either criteria. Or you can use the running up alert with the min current volume filter to see stocks which meet both criteria.

You can create multiple alert windows for completely different alert conditions. This way you can see all stocks which match eitherone set of filter conditions or a different set of filter conditions.

An alert message is always caused by a specific event, which we organize by alert type. The filters allow you to suppress alerts meeting specific criteria. For this reason you always need to specify at least one alert type, but can specify any number of additional filters. This shows one of the biggest differences between an alerts server and a stock screener: The alerts server sends a message when specific market events occur. A stock screener responds to different types of events, such as when you hit the refresh button.

In general it is not meaningful to combine two or more alert types with an and. Alert types, unlike filters, are events which occur instantaneously. While it is possible that two alerts will happen at exactly the same time, this is usually coincidence. (The quickest, easiest way to see a lot of alerts at once is when the exchange reports a really bad print.) What you probably wanted in this case was one alert event happening or almost happening near the same time as another alert. The window specific filters smooth out the data, allowing you to achieve this.

I don’t see any data. What’s wrong?

Make sure you have filled out your exchange agreements. You can find them here. Notice that there is more than one. You may have to repeat this process if you sign up more than once.

Our flagship product presents alerts in real time.

Most of the alerts occur during normal market hours. Fewer occur during the pre and post market hours. None occur during the middle of the night.

You can do analysis when the market is closed by using our history feature.

It is possible that you’ve made your filters too restrictive, and no alerts meet your criteria.

Some filters naturally conflict. For example, if you request to see only the stocks which are priced more than $20 and less than $10, you won’t see anything.

Some filters are very specific. For example, if you request to see only stocks with a minimum bid size of 10,000 shares at the time of the alert, you will see very few alerts. If you require a minimum bid size of 10,000 shares and a minimum ask size of 10,000 shares, you will probably see nothing. Stocks almost never have a large bid size and ask size at the same time.

You may have made legitimate choices, but no stocks match your criteria. For example, many of our preconfigured windows use the high relative volume filter to show only stocks which are trading on heavy volume. If you use this filter setting on the day before a holiday, when everything is trading on low volume, you will see almost nothing.

Typically if you attach your own stock list to an alert window, you should use few if any window specific filters. Typically if you use your own stock list that means that you’ve already done the filtering in advance, so you don’t need additional filters.

Go to the predefined setups and select “High Speed Test”. This window has very unrestrictive filters, and will show almost all alerts. If you see alerts in the High Speed Test window, but not in your own window, the problem is in your filter settings.

In the web based product, your alert window should say “Status: Connected” at the bottom. The on-line help describes the error messages which can appear in this place.

If you are having trouble connecting with Trade-Ideas Pro, especially if you see a lot of yellow tick marks on the status window, look at these instructions. These will help you configure your firewall or proxy server. If these don’t make sense to you, please show them to your system administrator.

Billing

What is the refund and cancellation policy?

Customers can cancel their subscription at anytime. To cancel, you can log in to your Account Management profile and click on Cancel Your Subscription. If you aren’t able to cancel successfully, we recommend you email us at info@trade-ideas.com. We only refund within 3 market days from purchase date. Special promotions are a limited time offer and are not refund eligible.

Why did you choose PayPal as a payment method?

This was one of our most critical decisions. Ultimately we decided on PayPal as a payment solution for security. When you buy something online you have to give the vendor your credit card number. Because Trade-Ideas uses PayPal, we do not have possession of your credit card information. This simply means that one less vendor has your credit card information. Additionally, once you create a PayPal account you can use it for many other things. Over 20 million users use PayPal daily making it a proven reliable platform for Internet ecommerce. That is why it was recently purchased by eBay!

If you’re looking for an alternative way of paying for Trade-Ideas, talk with your broker. Most soft-dollar brokers will take care of this expense for you. Depending on the broker’s policies, and how much you trade, the broker may subsidize part or all of the cost. The remainder of the cost will come from your account, so you will not have to send money directly to us or to PayPal. Our resources page lists some brokers who have stated their interest in working with us. We’ve found that most brokers are willing to take care of appropriate tools when a customer asks.

How do I sign up, pay, cancel, etc.?

If you were previously a subscriber, use the link above to reactivate your subscription.

If you accidentally cancel, wait until your current subscription ends, then use the link above to activate your account. If you don’t want to wait, then use the link above that one to create a new account and activate that account.

If PayPal cancels your account then you need to start by going to PayPal to fix the problem. Start at https://www.paypal.com. If you select “My Account” then “Profile” you will see an option to update your credit card information. After you fix the problem you can use the link above to reactivate your account.

If you are using PayPal, and you need to switch to a different credit card, follow the steps below in order. If you do not follow these instructions, PayPal may cancel your account. In that case, see the directions above to reactivate your account.

Find the subscription, and click on that link. (If you click on your last payment, there will be a link at the top that goes to the original subscription.)

There you will see instructions for switching to the new credit card.

If you want, you can delete the old payment instructions. But don’t do that until after you have finished the steps above. That option is available under profile.

Filters

How often are the filters updated?

The symbols are compared to the filters continuously. Create two windows, one for all stocks trading above $10, and one for all stocks trading below $10. Find a stock actively trading around $10. It will move from one window to the other as the stock price moves above and below $10.

Different filters have different characteristics. Max Daily Volume, for example, is only updated once a day. The Min Current Volume filter, on the other hand, updates each symbol’s actual volume and expected volume with each tick.

Can I create a list of stocks which gapped up by at least $1.00 this morning?

Yes. Use a filter, not a list, to accomplish this. Try this for a good starting place. Remember that we use a paradigm of streaming analytics, so when the market is not active you have to use our history feature.

In the general case you can go to the window specific filters section of the configuration window. You can specify a dollar value, or a percentage. Or you can use our proprietary gap filters, which compare today’s gap to the stock’s normal behavior.

Because we use a dynamic filter, rather than a static list, the results can update in real time. In the pre-market, for example, you can watch the gap change before the first official print arrives.

Some alerts work specifically with gaps. These alerts have additional filters.

Are the conditions combined with an “and” or an “or”?

Different parts of the alert window are combined in different ways.

Each alert type is combined with an or. If you select multiple alert types, you will see stocks matching the criteria of any one or moreof the alert types. For example, if you check both the running up (confirmed) and the running down (confirmed) alert you will see all stocks which are running up or down.

The alert specific filters are each associated with only one alert type. For example you can request to see stocks only which (((are making new highs) and (these are 5 day highs))or((are making new lows)and(these are 10 day lows))).

The window specific filters are typically combined with an and. For example if you set the minimum price to $5, and the maximum price to $90, you will only see stocks trading between those two prices. Read the detailed help for each filter for some exceptions and other details.

The alert types combine with the window specific filters using an and. A stock must satisfy at least one of the alert conditions and all of the window specific filter conditions for you to see it.

Some conditions are available as both alerts and filters. This gives you more options when you configure a window. For example you can use the high relative volume alert and the running up alert to see stocks meeting either criteria. Or you can use the running up alert with the min current volume filter to see stocks which meet both criteria.

You can create multiple alert windows for completely different alert conditions. This way you can see all stocks which match eitherone set of filter conditions or a different set of filter conditions.

An alert message is always caused by a specific event, which we organize by alert type. The filters allow you to suppress alerts meeting specific criteria. For this reason you always need to specify at least one alert type, but can specify any number of additional filters. This shows one of the biggest differences between an alerts server and a stock screener: The alerts server sends a message when specific market events occur. A stock screener responds to different types of events, such as when you hit the refresh button.

In general it is not meaningful to combine two or more alert types with an and. Alert types, unlike filters, are events which occur instantaneously. While it is possible that two alerts will happen at exactly the same time, this is usually coincidence. (The quickest, easiest way to see a lot of alerts at once is when the exchange reports a really bad print.) What you probably wanted in this case was one alert event happening or almost happening near the same time as another alert. The window specific filters smooth out the data, allowing you to achieve this.

I don’t see any data. What’s wrong?

Make sure you have filled out your exchange agreements. You can find them here. Notice that there is more than one. You may have to repeat this process if you sign up more than once.

Our flagship product presents alerts in real time.

Most of the alerts occur during normal market hours. Fewer occur during the pre and post market hours. None occur during the middle of the night.

You can do analysis when the market is closed by using our history feature.

It is possible that you’ve made your filters too restrictive, and no alerts meet your criteria.

Some filters naturally conflict. For example, if you request to see only the stocks which are priced more than $20 and less than $10, you won’t see anything.

Some filters are very specific. For example, if you request to see only stocks with a minimum bid size of 10,000 shares at the time of the alert, you will see very few alerts. If you require a minimum bid size of 10,000 shares and a minimum ask size of 10,000 shares, you will probably see nothing. Stocks almost never have a large bid size and ask size at the same time.

You may have made legitimate choices, but no stocks match your criteria. For example, many of our preconfigured windows use the high relative volume filter to show only stocks which are trading on heavy volume. If you use this filter setting on the day before a holiday, when everything is trading on low volume, you will see almost nothing.

Typically if you attach your own stock list to an alert window, you should use few if any window specific filters. Typically if you use your own stock list that means that you’ve already done the filtering in advance, so you don’t need additional filters.

Go to the predefined setups and select “High Speed Test”. This window has very unrestrictive filters, and will show almost all alerts. If you see alerts in the High Speed Test window, but not in your own window, the problem is in your filter settings.

In the web based product, your alert window should say “Status: Connected” at the bottom. The on-line help describes the error messages which can appear in this place.

If you are having trouble connecting with Trade-Ideas Pro, especially if you see a lot of yellow tick marks on the status window, look at these instructions. These will help you configure your firewall or proxy server. If these don’t make sense to you, please show them to your system administrator.

Trade Ideas has Min Change from the close in the window specific filters but I don’t see an option for Min Down from the close, how do I set up a filter to show Min Down from the close?

In order to create filters that represent Min Down we use negative numbers in the Max Up field. While at first this may seem counterintuitive, we have built an extremely easy way for you to set up what you need. Start with the upside and create your filter setup like you were looking for the move to be positive, then right click and select configure. On the lower right hand side of the configuration menu there is a button called “Flip”, this button will automatically invert your strategy with the appropriate filter settings. Once you see how it is configured it will be easy to do it on your own for future setup configuration.

For additional help on using negative numbers please see our video help.

We have another analysis tool which will help you verify that you put the right values into the filter. Use the flip feature to create these types of strategies, use this tool to verify your results and to better understand how these filters work.

Linking

How do I link to eSignal?

The best way is to open a detail window. (Select “new detail window” from the “file” menu.) Use the internal eSignal color coded linking between the detail window and your advance chart or other eSignal windows. Then link Trade-Ideas to the detail window.

If you try to link Trade-Ideas directly to eSignal’s advance chart window, the connection will not be as robust. If you follow the directions above, it will work every time.

For a demonstration please see our video help.

Does external linking work with Windows Vista?

Yes, but you might have to make some changes on your system. You will need to disable the User Account Control option. After this feature is disabled, linking will work as designed.

How to remove user access control:

Launch MSCONFIG from the Run menu.

Scroll down until you find “Disable UAC”.

Click on that line.

Press the launch button.

A CMD window will open. When the command is done, you can close the window.

Close MSCONFIG.

Reboot your computer.

OddsMaker

If the “Odds Maker” is so good, why are you guys selling it? Why not just use it yourselves and buy an Island?

The “Odds Maker” is not a green light – “buy”; red light – “sell” black box system. It does not attempt to predict the future price of stocks. It also does not replace a trader’s ability to manage risk in the form of money management, position sizing, etc. What it does do is help a trader figure out which Trade-Ideas strategy is a high odds strategy of success – one way we define success is a strategy that’s most in tune with the market and demonstrating more winning trades in recent days than losses.

Think of watching poker on ESPN and the ability to see the probablity of what the poker players are holding and who has the better chances of a winning hand. The information is not a guarantee of winning but it does gives you a better idea of what to do – stay in or fold.

How far back can you back test the strategies?

The Odds Maker allows you to have a system that trades 100 trades a day and goes back approximately one working Quarter, or approximately 63 trading days – depending on holiday schedules.

Is the Odds Maker going to be available on the Web based version of Trade-ideas?

Yes, the OddsMaker is currently available in the paid web version if you have a Premium Trade Ideas subscription.

Will there be a trial period to test and evaluate the Odds Maker?

Yes, when we initially release the beta version of the product, everyone who upgrades to the Trade-Ideas Pro 2.0, will access the Odds Maker for free for a short time. Once the Odds Maker is formally released, a user will have 10 opportunities with which to evaluate strategies – on the 11th evaluation, they will be prompted to pay.

How much will the “Odds Maker” cost?

The “Odds Maker”is included with a Trade Ideas Premium subscription.

How do we find the “Odds Maker” in Trade-Ideas Pro?

In Trade-Ideas Pro version 2.0 the “Odds Maker” will be visible in every window.

How is the “Odds Maker” different from TradeStation, MetaStock, Wealthlab, or other products that let you backtest strategies?

These products generate their share of followers and are good tools for a particular type of trader that prefers creating formulas and programming detailed code with which to test strategy. These tools are difficult to use and frustrate most people who can’t get past the manual. We understand how hard it is to program and backtest. We avoid this approach that uses a micrometer to measure a mudpuddle. The Odds Maker’s strength is in its simplicity to use – a design mantra we always adhere to.

Additionally in those products you test ‘single securities or complete portfolios’. The Odds Maker evaluates the entire market, meaning multiple stocks at the same time. Right away you will know if your strategy set-up produces high probabilities of winning trades given the current and most recent market conditions.

Finally the way the Odds Maker is priced generates value to our customer. Some of the other products require a subscription to use the service. The Odds Maker is a one-time cost that grows in value the more it is used to improve a trader’s performance.

What is a good result and what is a bad result in the “Odds Maker”?

The Odds Maker evaluates strategy set-ups and returns a number representing the probability that each alert will produce a winning trade. If you can get a strategy over 60% you are definitely going in the right direction. Obviously you want to avoid low odds strategies, but in reality finding a strategy that returns a low probability is actually good because you can flip the direction of the trade (for example from going long to selling short) in the Odds Maker configuration.

For example if you find a long strategy with a 20% chance of success, try switching the trade direction and indicate to the Odds Maker that each alert is an opportunity to short a stock. Then see how close to 80% you are. The most significant situation to avoid is a strategy that returns a probability result between 45-55% in your favor. This means that the set-up is too close to a coin flip – you are better finding something else. The Odds Maker will provide additional information such as how many total points were won or lost using a particular strategy and what were the average winners and losers.

If I find a strategy that returns a probability of 65% or higher does that guarantee that I will be right 65% of the time?

No, the result is interpreted as follows: based on the current performance and recent history of this strategy as well as the overall market conditions, the next alert from this strategy contains a 65% probability of being a winning trade. Past results never guarantee future performance. The Odds Maker informs a trader what the conditions for a winning trade are given a strategy s/he creates.